This Season, 2024-25

Sunday, November 10, 2024, 3pm
at Rancho Flaubert
7059 Bucktown Lane, Vacaville, CA 95688

The Ramey Trio

Florin Parvulescu, violin
David Goldblatt, cello
Samantha Cho, piano

The San Francisco-based Ramey Trio will present a dynamic program featuring the beloved work by Fauré, as well as the rarely performed piano trio by Germaine Tailleferre, an intensely emotional work of rich harmony and a vast palette of colors. Tailleferre was the only female member of Les Six, an “outsider” group of early 20th-century French composers critical of the grand Romanticism of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, as well as the cool impressionism of Claude Debussy. Tailleferre began writing the piece in 1916-1917, but interrupted by the trauma of World War I, did not complete the trio until 1978, just a few years before her death. The program ends with Gabriel Fauré’s great piano trio, his penultimate work, and one of the pillars of chamber music. Florin Parvulescu, violin, and David Goldblatt, cello, are members of the San Francisco Symphony, and pianist Samantha Cho is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

Program: 

• Reinhold Glière, Duos for Violin & Cello, Op. 39 (1909)

• Germaine Tailleferre, Piano Trio (1917-18, rev. 1978)

• Gabriel Fauré, Piano Trio in d minor, Op.120 (1923)

Sunday, February 16, 2025, 3pm
at Rancho Flaubert
7059 Bucktown Lane, Vacaville, CA 95688

Matthew Xie

French Music for lute and theorbo

Historical plucked string specialist Matthew Xie focuses on the repertoire of the theorbo, lute, and baroque guitar. He has performed as a soloist and in ensembles throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Matthew holds a Master’s degree in lute performance from the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, where he studied with Joachim Held and Mike Fentross. He also has bachelor and graduate degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory and UC Irvine. Currently based in San Francisco, Matthew is active as a lutenist, teacher, and musicologist. 

Matthew's program will focus on French music from the 16th to the 18th century, including works for lute by Denis Gaultier and Ennemond Gaultier, the d minor passacaille for theorbo by Robert de Visée, and arrangements for theorbo of works by Lully and François Couperin

matthew-xie.com

Sunday, March 9, 2025, 3pm
at Rancho Flaubert
7059 Bucktown Lane, Vacaville, CA 95688

Strobe

Laura Griffiths, oboe
Ani Bukujian, violin
Elizabeth Prior, viola
Krisanthy Desby, cello

Strobe was born in 2016 out of a carpool conversation about the sadly small repertoire for the beautiful combination of an oboe quartet. Since that fateful drive, Strobe has become the only dedicated oboe quartet in the United States, with a mission to expand their repertoire through commissions to living composers. They have received grants from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, William and Flora Hewett Foundation, Intermusic, and most recently, Chamber Music America. Strobe’s debut recording was released in 2024.

Laura Griffiths is Principal Oboe of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and Professor of Oboe at San Jose State University. She has also served as Principal Oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra, and as guest Principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony, among others.

Ani Bukujian also plays with the SF Ballet Orchestra as Principal Second Violin. The winner of several competitions, she hails from Los Angeles, holds degrees from Julliard, and performs chamber music actively all over the world.

Elizabeth Prior is Principal Viola of the Santa Rosa Symphony, and plays with many other orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Opera, and Ballet. She began her career in her native South Africa, and worked in Germany before coming to California.

Krisanthy Desby was Associate Principal Cello of both the Napa Valley Symphony and the Santa Cruz Symphony, and continues to perform actively in the Bay Area. She holds degrees from Peabody, and before coming to California, she was a member of Houston’s Symphony, Ballet, and Grand Opera.

“…an imaginative and diverse approach to repertoire….a clear love for the music they choose to play.” — San Francisco Examiner

Program: 

Alexis Aldrich, "Silver River" and "Green Pool" from Watercolors 

Neal Desby, "Golden Gate Rag"

Vincent Russo, "Bay Bridge Rag" 

E.J. Moeran, Fantasy Quartet

Sunday, April 6, 2025, 3pm
at Rancho Flaubert
7059 Bucktown Lane, Vacaville, CA 95688

Ian Scarfe

Piano works and songs of Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel

Erik Satie and Claude Debussy were friends and rivals, and both men had a huge influence on French music of the twentieth century. This adventurous program will include some of Satie's bizarrely charming piano works with narration of the humorous comments included by the composer within the score. 

Soprano Amy Foote bends toward the wild and uncanny. Her expansive repertoire ranges from leading roles on the operatic stage, and world premieres of contemporary chamber music, to studio vocals for feature films and Bay Area Bands. She has performed with Lamplighters, West Edge Opera, Berkeley Symphony, SF Contemporary Music Players, and has appeared nationwide in memorized and staged performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. From 2013, Amy has created self-produced solo performances of music ritual that question expectations of the concert experience. Amy lives in San Francisco.

“Amy Foote gave a sinuous, bright-toned performance, chasing the melodic lines through all their twitchy variations without missing a turn and giving the entire role an alluringly silvery sheen.”

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

www.amymichellefoote.com/

Ian Scarfe enjoys a wide-ranging career as a solo pianist, ensemble player, lecturer, narrator, organizer of festivals. and all-around advocate for music. Founder and director of the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, member of Vinifera Trio in California and the Zurich Beethoven Trio in Switzerland, Ian has supported colleagues in the creation of the Hogstown Chamber Music Festival in Florida, Festival Viana in Portugal, and Festival Roland in Bourgogne. Ian has served as faculty and guest artist at festivals in Alaska, Oregon, and Telluride, Colorado. His sports career includes a stint as the starting pianist with the San Francisco 49ers, playing at the Candlestick Park’s Stadium Club from 2009-13. He is currently on staff as a musical associate at the SF Conservatory, where he earned his master’s degree and artist’s certificate.

ianscarfe.com